The individual components of a wind turbine are often manufactured at different geographic locations. Therefore, transportation of each of the components to a location for assembly is necessary. Wind turbine blades are often required to be transported by railcar from one point to another, and must be protected and properly handled during transportation. The length of many wind turbine blades requires them to be supported by two coupled railcars. During transportation around a bend in the railroad, the blade remains straight and projects over the side of the railcar. U.S. Pat. No. 7,591,621 issued to Landrum et al. addresses this issue as illustrated by FIG. 1 herein which is taken from FIG. 3 of that prior art patent.
FIG. 1 provides a top plan view of a blade 1 loaded onto two railcars 2, 3 and rounding a curve in a railroad 4. The prior art apparatus of FIG. 1 provides a blade root end support 5 and a sliding mid-span support 6 to provide vertical support for the blade 1. As the railcars 2, 3 enter the curve, the blade tip end 7 begins to extend beyond the side of the second railcar 3 until the blade 1 makes contact with a lateral guide structure 8. As the curve increases, the mid-span support is thus caused to slide laterally to at least partially limit the lateral overhang of the blade tip 11 as the railcars 2,3 round the curve. Note that blade 1 is a straight blade and that it remains straight as it is transported around the curve.